To Be a God
by progam0r
Summary: Naruto has a conviction to become the strongest. Follow his adventure through a world of mystery and constant danger and watch him forge his mark onto the world. Very AU World, OCs. Eventual Mature content warning. RPG Elements.
1. One Gained, One Lost

**Chapter 1**

Naruto opened his eyes and looked upon the slowly reddening blue sky, while breathing out a satisfied yawn. He felt the warm grass on his back through his yellow T-shirt and inhaled a deep breath filled with the scent of nature.

Naruto was on a rocky meadow filled with grass long enough to hide his standing figure, a top the Hokage Mountain overviewing Konoha, just before the edge of a large forest. Naruto used this spot for his alone time, relaxing, sleeping and reflecting on things. He also liked to use this place to sate his infinite curiosity, gazing upon the city, observing what the citizens were up to.

With his vivid imagination of a six year old, Naruto had named this place the Watch Tower, a place from where he could see everything, yet nobody could see him. A place where nobody could judge him.

"_Yawn, I guess it's time to head back for today or baba will get angry,_" Naruto thought and hopped up from the ground, feeling the cool evening wind flowing above the tall grass after a hot day.

"_at least I got a good nap, summer evenings are the best after all!" _Naruto smiled brightly to himself, stretched with his hands and started heading towards the edge of the cliff.

Naruto started the climb down the cliff while smiling to himself. "_Hehe, baba would get a heartattack if she saw me doing this but after all, if I couldn't do this how could I ever become the strongest shinobi in the world." _

Naruto knew he could have just walked down the forest slope behind the Hokage Mountain but this way was faster and a master shinobi like himself would never fall from such an easy climb.

"_easy, easy,"_ Naruto snickered as there was about ten meters left to descend. Just then he noticed something peculiar. A black haired girl of similar age to him was sitting on a tree stump facing away from the Hokage Mountain, focusing on a tree with a kunai on her hand.

"_Strange, there are rarely people down here,"_ Naruto made a puzzled face, then immediately had an idea and smiled mischievously. "_I should sneak on her from behind and give her a little scare." _Just as Naruto was planning his little prank the rock from under his shoes gave up and broke.

"Iiiiiiiyyyaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa ~~~" Naruto yelled falling down.

Soon he felt scraping branches on every part of him as he was falling through the bush below. The branches however slowed down the fall by quite a bit and he touched the muddy ground relativily gently.

"itetete~," Naruto groaned a little bit as he stood up and surveyed the damage, his arms were full of small wounds the lashing branches had caused.

Naruto noticed his shirt and even his brand new black shorts were filled with holes. He pulled up his shirt a little to see what damage there was on his body, it was similarly wounded to his arms. Luckily all the wounds seemed shallow and didn't bleed much.

"Baba is going to kill me once she finds out I ruined my clothes," Naruto came out of the bush muttering morbidly. "At the very least I won't have dinner for the next hundred years."

Remembering there was somebody else there too, Naruto froze. He turned his eyes towards the spot where he recalled seeing the black haired girl.

She was still there, her back still towards him but her head turned and eyes wide eyed. Naruto observed her for a small while, noting her black spikey hair going slightly past her shoulders and her spotless tanned skin, her black eyes and the glistening sweat all over her. She was wearing a black T-shirt with a fan symbol on the back and white shorts.

The girl quickly turned and swept sweat from her forehead, then stood up and started half-running towards Naruto.

"A-are you alright?" The girl started visibly exasperated. "I heard a yell and saw you falling, did you fall all the way from the top of the mountain?! I presume not since you wouldn't be alive. U-unless you are a skilled shinobi of course and knew a strong enough jutsu. But you can't be a shinobi since you are so young, which means you were climbing the mountain right? That's very dangerous you know, unless you know a jutsu like wall-walking."

"Haa?" Naruto stood with his mouth open listening to the barrage of words coming from the girls mouth "_What on earth is she babbling about?"_

"Sorry," The girl said as her cheeks tinted a light red. "When I panic or get excited, I seem to say everything going through my mind out loud."

"It's alright," Naruto grinned back. "I've just never seen anyone talk so much on a single breath."

Naruto watched as the girl looked at him from toes up to his face.

"Anyway, we need to go get you treated, you are bleeding," She said, turning a little more serious. "Come with me, I live close."

"N-no need to really, I can take care of this myself really," Naruto answered in a staggered voice with a troubled expression on his face.

"Hush and come with me, it'll only take a while, what if those wounds get infected?" The girl questioned him skeptically.

Naruto was about to continue his resistance but the girl grabbed Naruto's hand and started walking while pulling him along.

Having been pulled by the girl for a couple of minutes while arguing whether he is in need of medical assistance Naruto finally gave up.

"Fine fine I'll come with you. You can let go, I can walk by myself," She gave him the same skeptical look but let go of his hand. "You are pretty strong for a girl, I couldn't get free even though I tried." Naruto noted.

"Isn't that just because you are weak, and dumb as well," The girl said with a teaseful smirk. "Climbing a cliff like that when you are not even a shinobi."

"I'm just temporarily weak!" Naruto said as he felt a little put down and wanted to fight back. "I'm going to enter the Special Ops Academy this year and become a shinobi. After that I'm going to train and become the strongest shinobi in the world!"

The girl kept watching indifferently while Naruto was making his declaration but broke into a small smile, this time good natured.

"You really are a simple one aren't you," The girl started, Naruto felt offended and was about to say something back but then she broke into a full smile and continued. "But, I don't really hate that you know. I am also entering the academy this year to become a kunoichi. We might become classmates. My name is Uchiha Satsuki, yours?"

"Naruto. Uzumaki Naruto," Naruto stated feeling happy, finding another person with the same kind of ambition he had but a little sad of how she had insulted him.

"Then, Yoroshiku from now on, Uzumaki-san," Satsuki said, doing a clearly often practiced formal bow.

"Naruto is fine really," Naruto said blushing from embarrassment. "I'm not good with that formal stuff."

"Then, I'll call you Naruto-kun," Satsuki smiled.

Naruto felt butterflies in his stomach, was he about to make his first friend outside of _that _place?

"Then, then, can I call you Satsuki-chan?" Naruto began to asked excitedly.

"No, I hate the chan suffix," Satsuki quickly shot the request down with an annoyed look. "it doesn't suit a kunoichi at all."

"You can call me Satsuki though," Satsuki said still smiling.

The two continued to walk for a while, transitioning from the grass to the asphalted sidewalk.

"The Uchiha are one of the great noble ninja clans right?" Naruto asked, raising an eyebrow.

"That's right," Satsuki said, pride showing on her expression. "Our clan has many members among the best of the best of Konoha ninja. One day I will be up there too with my brother and father."

"Best huh?" Naruto smiled a little mischievously. "Not for long because in six years this Uzumaki Naruto-sama is done with the academy and the whole ninja world will know my name! Bwahahaha!"

"You... You are really underestimating the academy!" Satsuki retaliated in an annoyed fashion. "Only one percent of the population has enough chakra to awaken it so most people go home straight away and you do realize that during the six year training there is a hard test after every year! On average people who don't give up and actually graduate spend ten years in the academy, having to repeat some years, after that of course is the final exam to become a ninja, which most people never graduate. You can take the final exam every year but it's a carefully designed bottleneck so only the best can become a ninja and enjoy the luxurious life it brings you. Very few people have aced every test to earn the title of ninja. Starting from two hundred years ago when the tests began, the first and second hokage who were brothers, started the academy at the same time at ages ten and seven and managed to ace every exam. Then there are people like Uchiha Madara, the founder of our clan, the fourth hokage, and some others too, and of course all their teammates since Konoha ninja always work in a three man cell. So there is no way ever you will be able to match with them and become a ninja in six years!"

"You know... If I had known you were gonna go on such a rant again, I wouldn't have said anything," Naruto said putting his hands behind his head and closing his eyes. "It was just a joke anyway... Well, not a joke since I'm gonna do it but I didn't mean to undermine your clan's achievements."

"Why are you teasing me like that?! Your words were obviously meant to anger me," Satsuki asked blushing lightly from a mix of anger and embarrassment.

"Well you started it didn't you? calling me dumb and weak without even knowing me." Naruto started slightly annoyed "Even I like pranks but I don't think it's fun being called names."

Satsuki stopped and stared at Naruto while seemingly thinking about something.

"Sorry," Satsuki said, looking regretful. "The environment I've grown up is so competitive. We do joint trainings with the other clans and within the Uchiha, it's a pride issue for the clans and families so the kids usually do anything to perform better for their parents' approval. That often includes gaining a mental edge over others and demoralizing them. I've never really had a friend I don't have to compete with so I went with my natural reaction. I'm sorry about that."

"I see. I guess even rich people have their problems. If you wanted though, I could help you with your friend problem," Naruto said hopefully. "I really only have one friend so far but I think I can be a good friend."

Satsuki stared at Naruto in a surprised fashion.

"I... I guess so," She said, thinking. "I haven't had time to make friends outside of the clans because of my training and studying. I wouldn't have much time to play with them either. If you want to train with me then I think we can be friends."

"Sure I can train with you from time to time," Naruto smiled, with Satsuki smiling back at him.

"Ah, we have arrived, this is our clan's compound." Satsuki showed with her hand towards a walled area and a gate they were walking towards.

Naruto felt like the small walk had taken an eternity as even though his wounds were shallow they were stinging pretty badly but it was oddly getting better very quickly. The guard took a long look at Naruto while he and satsuki walked through the gate but he didn't say anything.

Naruto was used to the stares, whispering and judgemental looks. He had spent a lot of nights wondering what they actually meant. They were mostly from people from the wealthier area, and people associated with the clans, it was like they knew something about him that he didn't.

He knew it had something to do with the Kyubi no Kitsune that had attacked the city the day he was born, he had caught that much from some of the whispering people did when encountering him. Maybe he was the Kyubi turned human, maybe it was sealed inside him, or people just thought he had some connection to Kyubi because of his whisker marks and date of birth, these were the possibilities he had entertained himself with at night. Either way he hated those spiteful eyes and wanted to spend every moment he could away from them.

The compound, while luxurious, was unexpectedly modest compared to most of the clans. Naruto had exptected grand buildings made out of fancy materials and large gardens but every house seemed what you would expect to see all over the wealthier districts of Konoha, one floor apartments with sliding doors and tatami mats. Only the two floor mansion at the end of the road they were heading towards, was any bigger than the normal houses, however even the mansion paled in comparison to the smaller houses of the big clans, such as Hyuga or Nara.

"Mom, mom!" Satsuki yelled as they entered the two floor house.

The house was very traditional, with sliding doors and tatami mats covering the wooden floor. Stylish red carpets covered the floor on the wide hall ways with expensive looking chandeliers illuminating the house.

"What is it Satsuki, sounding so panicked?" A woman in her late twenties appeared from a side hallway wearing an apron and wiping on a plate with a drying cloth.

She looked a lot like Satsuki except her facial features were a bit softer and her hair went all the way to the small of her back. Naruto thought she felt very motherly.

"Ah, and you are..?" She turned to Naruto with a beautiful smile. "My name is Mikoto, Satsuki's mother. Nice to meet you."

She extended a hand towards Naruto to shake, which Naruto took. Not used to such a classy looking person being so positive towards him, Naruto blushed a little and mumbled some kind of greeting while averting his eyes.

"His name is Naruto, he's my new friend and he's hurt," Satsuki said midly exasperated. "He fell from climbing the Hokage Mountain, can you put some bandages on him mom?"

The woman's eyes widened a bit then she went to a nearby room and came back with a small first aid kit.

"So, where does it hurt Naruto-kun?" she asked still wearing the beautiful smile of hers

"Well, it doesn't really hurt anymore but I got some cuts on my body," Naruto answered while looking at his toes.

"I see, let me take a look. Raise your arms," Mikoto told Naruto, who did so causing Mikoto to pull his shirt off.

"Hmmm," Mikoto looked tentatively. "I don't see cuts anywhere."

"Naruto what's going on?!" Satsuki seemed bewildered. "All the wounds are gone!"

"I don't know," Naruto said, feeling confused. "I haven't had any big wounds before but all my smaller wounds healed this fast too. Is that not normal?"

Was he really some kind of demon that had powers of regeneration, or did he have a Bloodline Limit? "_That wouldn't be so bad now that i think about it_." Naruto snickered inside his mind.

"It isn't what one would call normal but the most important thing is that you aren't hurt." Mikoto stated. "It's a mysterious world, with little of what you could call normal and sometimes chakra causes the oddest of things to happen, we can only accept it and try to search for the answers."

She looked very serene to Naruto.

"I've never heard of an Uzumaki clan though... Naruto, who are your parents?" Satsuki asked. "Maybe you have a Bloodline Limit they haven't told you about."

"I don't have parents," Naruto said, flustered with embarrassment, which was becoming an annoying habit today. "I've lived in an orphanage ever since I can remember."

This time it was Satsuki's turn to be embarrassed while Mikoto had a commiserating expression.

"It's not like the orphanage is a bad place to live in, I have friends there," Naruto said, having noticed Mikoto's sadness. "Besides, I didn't even know my parents, they were probably no good and I'm better off without them."

Naruto was confused as Mikoto seemed to look even sadder. She seemed to sense Naruto's discomfort and smiled a little.

"The most important thing is whether or not you are satisfied with your life," Mikoto said, causing Naruto to smile in a troubled way and to scratch the back off his head.

Mikoto put Naruto's shirt back on and ruffled his hair which made Naruto blush again from the sense of comfort he was unexperienced with. She radiated such a motherly warmth Naruto wasn't sure how to react.

"Anyway, it's late and I'm already late. I really need to go back so I won't get yelled at too badly. Thank you very much for helping me ma'am," Naruto said while getting ready to leave.

"I don't think I did anything to be thanked for but thank you for the thank you," Mikoto laughed out gracefully, her hand hiding her mouth. "Then, Be a good friend to Tsuki-chan from now on, Naruto-kun."

"Mom! don't call me that!" Satsuki protested cutely. "It doesn't fit a kunoichi!"

"Naruto! Will you come train with me tomorrow?!" Satsuki shouted and came running to Naruto as he had just walked out of the door. "I'm practicing my kunai throws at the same place. So I just wondered if you would join me tomorrow, you need the practice too right? Oh, and one thing is almost sure with this. You do have a chakra strong enough to awaken. What else could affect wounds that way."

Naruto felt his heart start pumping at an accelerated pace at the idea of doing something together with someone else than his best friend from the orphanage.

"Sure, I can be there at around noon when I'm done with my chores!" Naruto told her.

"Okay I'll see you then," Satsuki smiled at his words. "Be careful on the way home!"

Naruto walked through the slums, staying in the shadows to avoid all the shady people hanging around. Konoha didn't have many financial prospects except for it's Special Ops program which had been given to it by the state for two hundred years because Konoha had been founded by, and was still filled with people well versed with the Arts of the ninja. Being a ninja had held a status of respect for hundreds of years due to their unique skill set in the Arts and ability to take part in proxy wars the Fire Country was involved in. Some were also excellent field commanders with hugely destructive abilities in the times of warfare. Being a ninja was often the only hope poor people had of becoming someone rich and respected.

Fire Country being under a constant military threat from surrounding countries, had invested most of it's resources into the military and for a long time the civil sector had been dry in terms of employment and what work was left, had pitiful wages due to heavy-handed government taxing to procure even more military resources. That's why people from all over came to Konoha to study for becoming a ninja and eventually take the grueling tests that determined whether or not you are fit to become one.

People who couldn't become a ninja either go to the Capital, Honou, to join the military and essentially become a grunt, which still pays more than most private sector work, or they stay in Konoha, live in the slums working some dead-end job that can barely afford a roof on their head. Regardless, everybody would have to go through a three year mandatory military training unless they were already working for the military or gaining a high education. The only way to high education being, having enough money to attend the university to become a state sanctioned engineer or doctor. Naruto had learned all of this from the orphanage matron who liked to complain what a horrible, unfair country this was.

The streets of the slums were still filled with debris and trash from the Kyubi attack, the city council hadn't found it important enough to allocate any funds into cleaning this part of the city. Even the ANBU, which served the part of police in Konoha during peace time, didn't care what was happening here unless it threatened the well-being of the wealthier parts of the city.

There were none of what one might call houses on these streets, only small metal shacks with stairs downwards which were called underscrapers, they went deep underground and some of them even had hundreds of small apartments. They were preferred over protruding buildings because of the ever increasing monster and demon attacks all over the world, which had often left such buildings in a sorry state.

Naruto felt slightly guilty on being late and getting his clothes torn, as he entered one of these shacks, after all the matron of the orphanage was one of the only people who cared for him, even if in a distant way since she had so many kids to look after. Naruto walked down into the torchlit abyss.

"Uzumaki-kun! You are absurdly late, do you know how worried I was, and look at how messy you are, your clothes are all torn, even those shorts I bought you from this months operating money," The matron ranted as Naruto patiently waited for it to end. "How do you expect me to buy you new ones when you just get them ripped every time."

"I'm sorry Matsuko-san," Naruto apologized to the thirty five year old matron. "I fell asleep and then a lot of stuff happened..."

"I know," Matsuko looked at him for a while and sighed. "Give me your clothes, I'll give them an emergency patch up. So, what's this stuff you were talking about?"

Naruto's face lit up as he started telling Matsuko of his adventure and how he made a new friend while eating some bread for a late evening snack and drinking a cup of cocoa with Matsuko. Matsuko actually started to lighten up during Naruto's tale too. These kinds of events were relatively rare, where it could just be the two of them.

"An Uchiha kid huh? Pretty surprising to see a clan let a commoner child in. Most of them are so snobbish," Matsuko said with obvious disdain "Still, I'm happy you managed to make a new friend, I know it's been hard for you to get along with most the kids. But now it's bed time Naruto, all the others have already gone, take a shower and go to bed."

"And Naruto!" Matsuko looked at Naruto sternly as he stood up to leave. "You'll be doing all the dishes tomorrow, and don't be out past the curfew again or I'll have to punish you more severely."

Naruto gulped and nodded, and ran off into the shower. Their apartment had two rooms and a combined kitchen and a livingroom and a bathroom. All in all way too small for thirteen persons. The children were divided evenly to the rooms and the matron slept in the living room. Naruto was tugged in on the top of his bunk bed when he heard a voice from below.

"Naruto, what were you doing whole day, did you go to the Watch Tower?"

It was Souta, Naruto's only friend, at least until today he was. He had short black hair and blue eyes. He was even punier than Naruto even though they were the same age.

Naruto hadn't really bonded with the other children since they had always bullied Souta for his weak body and health, today he couldn't come to play with Naruto because he had a fever. Naruto had always defended Souta so they had sort of become the out casts of the group but Naruto was just fine with that. He'd rather be alone than friends with the beginnings of juvenile delinquents they were.

Even though he held such a stance, he couldn't deny feeling lonely with having only one friend, so he was grateful for having met Satsuki and having been invited to train by her. Even sadder was that Marui, eleven years old, the self-proclaimed leader of the orphanage kids, had threatened other children from the district to not become friends with Souta and Naruto. There were even rumors of him beating up other kids not listening to his commands.

"Wow, I hope I get better tomorrow," Souta said excitedly as he listened to Naruto's story about his day. "I'd like to meet her too, she sounds interesting."

"Yeah, you can come with me tomorrow if you get better and Matsuko-san approves," Naruto yawned. "now I really wanna sleep though, so good night Souta."

"Good night, Naruto," Came back Souta's answer from the bed below.

Naruto couldn't get sleep instantly with all sorts of things running around his mind. This year he would turn seven which is the earliest you could enter the Special Ops academy in. In only two weeks the semester would start and he would begin his route to becoming an operative as the state called them, or rather _ninja_, as the practitioners in tune with the Arts called themselves.

He had to begin as early as possible so the noble clan kids didn't gain any headstart as they were groomed to start the academy as soon as possible. He was conflicted because Souta who had been together with him couldn't come because of his medical issues but at least there would be one familiar face at the academy and he was happy for that. With those happy thoughts Naruto fell into a deep slumber.

-OOO-

The next morning Naruto woke up early, did his morning chores, including washing the breakfast dishes as a part of his punishment for last night's mishaps. He pulled on the shorts patched by Matsuko and a black t-shirt from the closer and took off towards the meeting place with Souta who had recovered from his fever overnight and was already feeling better. Matsuko had made them promise a long time ago that Souta couldn't run around or engage in any physical activity, this was a promise Naruto did intend to keep since he knew what could possibly happen.

It was another warm day with the hot sun beaming at Naruto's and Souta's face, already tiny drops of sweat forming on their faces. Even through their shoes, they could feel the heat of the ground, which was asphalted on these wealthier areas, as they arrived at the agreed meeting place.

Now that Naruto had better time to look at the place, it actually seemed like a very good training spot, there were enough trees around so you could barely see the nearest houses through them and there was the small pond Naruto had fallen into earlier. The pond had badly eutrophicated so you couldn't swim in it without being tangled in all kinds of plants but you could easily dip your legs in to a clear spot from the nearby rock to refresh yourself.

"Aww, still around an hour until Satsuki gets here," Naruto muttered, glancing at the sun. "might as well take a nap."

"Naruto, how can you always be so sleepy?" Souta questioned, rolling his eyes. "we just woke up a few hours ago and you are already tired?"

"It's not like I can do any training before Satsuki comes, she's the one who has the kunai. I suppose I could do some warming up but that's just boring alone," Naruto saw the upset look on Souta's face and apologized awkwardly, he hadn't meant to upset Souta, his wording had just been thoughtless.

"It's ok. You don't need to apologize," Souta smiled as did Naruto. "I know you didn't mean it in a bad way. I'm just disappointed in myself, having this kind of condition where I can't breath if I try to do anything fun."

"Don't beat yourself up for it, I'm sure you will get better and have a great destiny awaiting you," Naruto said, taking a hold of Souta's shoulder and looking straight into his eyes. "Although not as great as me since I'm the Uzumaki Naruto-sama who will be the greatest ninja on this planet. Since I'm going to be such a great person you should trust me about your destiny. Believe in me who believes in you!"

"Hahaha, Naruto, that's so cheesy, haha "Believe in me who believes in you."" Souta laughed out and fell to the ground on his butt, letting his body hit the grass, eyes towards the blue sky. "Thanks for the good laugh Naruto, but I'll believe you when you are the best ninja in the world."

"You should just believe me," Naruto muttered with fake annoyance as he sat down and joined Souta. "It's already written in fate you know."

"I know, I know," Souta snickered. "But really thanks for trying to cheer me up."

All Souta got as an answer at this point was light wheezing as Naruto was already napping on the lawn

"Heyy, Naruto-kun!" Naruto heard and opened his eyes.

Satsuki was standing above him with a smile on her face. Naruto raised his head from the comfortable lawn and Satsuki backed away a little. Souta was waving at him from the edge of the pond where he was flailing his legs in the water.

"Hi Satsuki, I guess I fell asleep since we came a bit earlier," Naruto yawned. "Oh yeah, this is my friend Souta , he - "

"I know who he is, we talked for a bit before I woke you up," Satsuki interrupted. "He told me a lot about you guys. Sad that he can't train or come to the academy."

"Yeah..." Naruto said, not quite sure what else to say. "Did you bring the kunai by the way? I haven't thrown one before so I really want to try."

Satsuki took off her backpack which she hadn't had the day before. She put the backpack on the ground and Naruto and Souta gathered next to it for a closer look.

"Wow what are all these?" Souta asked in a excited manner and started to motion restlessly towards the backpack. "You brought so many things I've never seen!"

Naruto watched in amazement as Satsuki pulled a myriad of things out of the backpack. Soon the ground was full of ninja equipment, kunai, shurikens, explosive scrolls, even a pair of sai.

"I figured you hadn't seen many of these from close before so I brought some stuff from home. I wanted to bring a katana to show you too but I didn't have space for it," Satsuki said as she demonstrated the equipment she brought. "These ones are called sais, they are great defensive weapons you can disarm people, and although not lethal, one good hit to the solar plexus will take them out."

"Check these out," Satsuki smirked. "A set of +7 Crimson Steel Kunais crafted by the famous Sunder Corp. It's the set my father uses to fight, the material is extremely rare and you can only find it in the Hinomori Firestorm Plateau in the Stone Country. He got these from the prime minister of our country a long time ago for saving his life. These will burn a sizable hole into you if you get cut so don't put your hand anywhere near the blade."

Naruto examined them. They were a beautiful crimson and it looked like a shining lightning pulsed inside them at regular intervals.

"what do you mean +7?" Naruto inquired confusedly. "there are only 6 here."

"No silly, I was talking about their chakra enchantment." Satsuki explained, giggling a little at Naruto's befuddlement. "You can basically upgrade your weapons and armor. The higher you upgrade them, the likelier the item is to break. The upgrading basically works by inserting your intent into the object with your chakra. Let's say you have gloves, and you want to get stronger. You insert chakra with that intent to the gloves, and if the enchantment succeeds, you will get a little stronger when you wear the gloves. The item enters a kind of symbiosis with you, it gives you power and you give it power, it truly becomes yours and nobody else can gain the benefits the item gives you unless you give it away with _intent," _ Satsuki went on and on with her voice getting faster and faster. "Another way of someone else to use it is if you don't use the item for a little over two years which is the time span for your chakra to blend in with the host object's, if this happens anybody can get the benefits of the item and it will bind on them as equipped. The properties that are added into the item however stay constant, such as the destructive power of these kunais. The effect of the enchanting isn't very noticeable on something like normal animal leather, or iron or steel especially on low upgrading levels but you will easily notice a difference if you have a stronger and rarer material with a higher intensity of chakra. You can do this as many times as you want but as I said, the chance gets lower every time. You can also improve the chances of success by inserting chakra from the same material the item you are trying to upgrade is made from. To do any enchanting you need a chakra tranferrer, those are pretty expensive but all smiths should have one."

Naruto and Souta were just standing mouths open, a little bit of drool was cruising down the edge of Naruto's mouth.

"That's _so _cool," Naruto said eyes sparkling. "Satsuki. This time I'll definitely forgive your word flood. Just _please _get me +12 Boots of Super Speed or something like that."

"wow, so things like that existed," Souta mumbled, watching the sky while recovering from the overload of coolness he had just heard. "It would be nice to create a Helmet of True Breath or something... Heheheh."

"Oi oi, I didn't tell that to you guys so you can fall into your own little worlds," Satsuki expressed frustratedly. "I told you because I need you to know these things Naruto. If you want to do good in the academy you should at least know basic stuff like this before it starts. That's why I'm gonna be teaching you things you should know for two weeks until the academy starts."

"Studying huh, well it can't be too bad if it's cool things like that," Naruto grinned. "Yoroshiku, Satsuki-sensei. Today we'll be throwing kunais though right, like you promised?"

"Of course," Satsuki nodded. "I think it would be boring to Souta if all we did was talk."

Souta snapped out of his daydreams.

"Not at all," Souta smiled. "I really like all kinds of stories. Do you think I could join you when you are teaching Naruto? I really want to learn too."

Naruto noticed Satsuki looking at him, as if to pass the ball.

"Yeah, of course you can come," Naruto affirmed. "I don't see why not. By the way... Satsuki... did you really get permission to take all of these?"

Satsuki blushed causing Naruto to sweat drop.

"Well... I wasn't explicitly told that I can't take them," Satsuki said while looking at the ground and playing around with some grass with her shoe. "And it was all for the sake of you guys so you don't get to complain!"

"I wasn't complaining!" Naruto protested quickly. "I just don't want you to get in trouble for us."

"Well you shouldn't worry about that," Satsuki reassured. "I think my dad will just be happy I showed some guts and not punish me... much..."

Satsuki obviously didn't want to talk about it anymore so Naruto turned to the equipment and picked up a kunai. He threw it at a nearby tree and it stuck up straight from the bark.

"Not bad for a first throw," Satsuki smiled. "Now let's try it on a target board I brought with me."

Satsuki went to her backpack and picked up a target board similar to a dartboard. She then went to attach it to the tree Naruto had thrown the kunai at moments earlier then came back to pick up a kunai. She threw the kunai from around twenty meters and it hit half way between the target center and edge.

"Woow. Almost as good as Naruto," Souta said eyes wide. "I've never seen anyone throw better than Naruto. A lead in card games that is."

Souta giggled at his own joke, Satsuki let out a small laugh, Naruto rolled his eyes and picked another kunai. He gained a look of concentration and threw the Kunai. It hit the dead middle of the bulls eye and stood straight there. Satsuki tried to swallow her own laugh and judging by the amount of coughing she was about to suffocate. Souta's laugh on the other hand intensified and judging by the redness on his face and the gasps of breath in between laughing he was about to suffocate too.

"I said that, but Naruto actually has the most accurate throwing I've ever seen, it's like inhuman," Souta managed to say between his laughing. "I said that joke because I wanted to see that face when he actually throws better than you."

"Stop it Souta, it's not a competition," Naruto said, trying to calm Souta down before he made Satsuki angry. "At least I have one thing I'm good at."

"That was impressive, where did you learn to throw like that?" Satsuki inquired after recovering. "Show me if you can do it again."

Naruto threw it at the same spot another time, the third went two centimeters to the right but still a bullseye.

"Even my brother can't hit bullseye three times in a row from this distance without some luck," Satsuki mentioned. "And they call him a genius."

The three continued their training, throwing shurikens and kunais and Satsuki and Naruto had a match with the sais which Satsuki won easily by simply being stronger. They even detonated one of the small explosive scrolls in the pond which resulted in a huge splash. Before Naruto noticed from all the fun he was having, a lot of time had flown by and the red evening rays of the sun showed once again. He also noticed he was extremely hungry from training and playing around the whole day. Then he heard some miraculous words.

"Hey Naruto and Souta, are you guys getting hungry?" Satsuki questioned wheezing and puffing from the running race she had with Naruto, which she won of course. "I can treat you to some ramen at a great place I know."

"But..." Naruto started.

"No buts," Satsuki interrupted firmly. "Come on, let's go."

The party arrived at a ramen stand that read Ichiraku Ramen at the top. Naruto didn't like accepting hand-outs but he couldn't deny being very excited for getting to eat out for the first time in his life.

"Welcome, Welcome," A kind looking older man came from the back. "What may I do to serve the young gentlemen and the lady?"

"Ramen huh?" Naruto thought aloud "We've never eaten this before so maybe Satsuki should order something good for us."

"I'm fine with that," Satsuki nodded. "Three pork ramen then please."

"Here you go," A young smiling waitress said as she brought their meals. "Please enjoy your meal."

What followed next, was an explicit amount of slurping and gulping. Naruto saw Satsuki eating neatly and giggling at his and Souta's antics but at the moment he couldn't care less because he had just tasted heaven.

"Ahhh," Naruto groaned after finishing the quickest dinner of his life relative to meal size. "Satsuki~~. I don't know what to say, thank you for showing me the best food in the world."

"Thank you Satsuki," Souta also managed to say in between his burping.

Naruto relaxed on his seat while waiting Satsuki to finish. From the corner of his eye he noticed a woman who had been eating a couple of sit next to them, rise up.

"I can't eat this," She said, putting the ramen bowl on the serving desk. "I can't eat food from a place that serves monsters."

The woman left, leaving a confused Waitress and Satsuki behind. The cook, who Naruto assumed was named Ichiraku, had an angry look on his face.

"Please don't mind that, customers," Ichiraku said, turning to smile at them. "Crazy people are everywhere these days."

Satsuki let out a small laugh but was obviously left wondering what had just happened. Naruto laid his head a little low, while Souta was looking at him with a commiserating expression. After Satsuki was done eating they thanked for the food, Satsuki paid for the bill and they left.

"That was odd," Satsuki wondered. "What monster was she talking about?"

"Ehh, there's something I should tell you," Naruto mentioned, causing Satsuki to turn a keen eye on him. "I dont know why... But some people have something against me and I've been called demon or monster a lot. What's even weirder is I've never seen a kid do it. It's only older people and from the wealthier districts.

"That is _very_ odd. Do you think it could be because of those small scars on your face?" Satsuki contemplated while rubbing her jaw. "They are very light and barely noticeable but they look just like whiskers. Maybe some people have an irrational fear of whiskers after the Kyubi attack six years ago?"

Naruto hadn't thought about it like that. Perhaps it was _just _the whiskers. He wanted to believe it could be like that but something was still nagging in the back of his head, not letting him convince himself.

"I hope so," Naruto forced a smile. "That would beat being a monster at the very least."

The three said their goodbyes and parted ways since curfew was closing in for Naruto and Souta. They promised to meet again the next day at Satsuki's place since it was

Naruto and Souta were walking through the slums as they noticed something strange. There was nobody around suddenly. They took a few more steps, everything went black for half a second

A voice sounded from behind them "Yo kids."

There was a man walking towards them. Naruto felt chills run down his spine. The man's face was completely normal, he looked to be in his late twenties, he had a large batch of silver hair on his head, almost covering his eyes and reaching the small of his neck and green eyes. What was unsettling about this man was his body, no matter how many times Naruto blinked, he could only black distorting space from his neck to his knees. And that was not all, he felt an enormous presence, like being an ant in front of a sky whale.

The man looked at them oddly and looked like he realized something.

"Oh sorry about that," The man said as he closed his eyes and the distorting effect was gone revealing a white coat and a katana so big attached to his hip it was trailing in the ground. "Half was still on the other side."

Naruto still couldn't get anything out of his mouth and he assumed Souta was in the same state but he couldn't turn to check because of his shocked state.

"You guys are no fun at all. So silent," The man said scratching his head. "Say. Do you know of a person named Uzumaki Naruto?"

The man waited for a few seconds if they answered and then continued.

"Well I kinda didn't expect an answer but it's not like I needed one either," The man said, shooting a piercing stare at Naruto and looked him up and down as if evaluating him. "You look just like a Naruto."

"Wh- wh- what do you want from me?" Naruto managed to gasp out.

"Hmm? I don't really want anything," The man said smirking lightly. "Just wanted to see your face. Now that I've seen it I'll let you two go on with your trip."

Everything went dark for half a second and when Naruto could see again the man was nowhere to be seen.

"What just happened?" Souta asked as he fell down on the ground. "I've never experienced anything even remotely this weird in my small life."

"I don't even..." Naruto started. "Let's just go home. I think I've had enough for today. We can discuss it tomorrow with Satsuki."

The two went home for the night and ate some evening snacks and played a few games of cards and went to bed.

-OOO-

The next morning they arrived at the Uchiha compound. After the guard was done asking their name and business they hurried to Satsuki's doorstep.

"Wow, what a big house," Souta said in amazement as they knocked the door. "Not that I expected any less from the leaders of a noble clan."

The door opened and a familiar face appeared to Naruto.

"Ara, Naruto-kun," Mikoto said delightedly. "Did you come to get Tsuki-chan? And who is this charming young man?"

"M- My name is Souta," Souta said sheepishly, while Naruto giggled at him for having the same reaction Naruto had the day before. "Nice to meet you."

"Nice to meet you too Souta-kun," Mikoto shaked his hand. "I will go get Satsuki for you so wait just a moment."

Soon Naruto heard rapid running down the stairs and there was Satsuki.

"Hey guys. Sorry I took a while I had to dig these out," Sasuke said as she pulled some books out of her backpack. "Today it's studying!" Then she went back to the backpack. "Also, put these on Naruto."

Satsuki handed him a pair of black shorts. Naruto was about to ask what was up with this but he didn't manage before Satsuki continued.

"Don't argue," Satsuki said and pointed his patched up shorts. "I'm not gonna go out with you if your shorts look like that. These are my brother's old shorts, they are small for him now so they are not needed. There is no reason to not accept this gift. Now go put them on."

Naruto didn't see the point to argue and he started to take his shorts off.

"Not in front of me!" Satsuki yelled and covered her eyes. "Haven't you heard of public decency?!"

Satsuki facepalmed as she saw Naruto's clueless look. She grabbed Naruto's hand and dragged him to the bathroom.

"Do it here and come when you are done," Satsuki said and closed the door.

"Yare, yare," Naruto sighed and started putting on the shorts.

The trio left the Uchiha complex and were heading towards the Watch Tower, about which Naruto had told Satsuki.

"So you didn't get into any trouble after yesterday?" Naruto inquired from Satsuki.

"Nope. In fact," Satsuki opened her backpack smiling. "I got to keep all of these except my father's kunais."

"Hey losers," Naruto heard from behind him and felt hand grabbing him from behind. "We heard you guys talking about a new friend so we decided to come and check shit out."

It was Marui and his gang. They had also apprehended Souta and Satsuki who were struggling to get out of the holds of their captors. Souta was held by Marui and Satsuki by a relatively bigger guy. Naruto was held by a ratty and thin guy maybe a few years older than him.

"Never thought you guys could get a girl to do anything with you," Marui smirked. "Then again you are clueless kids who have no idea what girls are for. I will show this little girly what it means to be a woman tonight."

Naruto didn't know exactly what Marui met but to him it was obvious he wanted to hurt Satsuki. Naruto wasn't the kind of person who would let anything happened to a friend he had waited so long for. Something snapped in his head and he pushed back the kid holding him as hard as he could and he fell backwards.

"Don't do anything stupid, you will regret it," Marui said, pulled a knife from his pocket and placed it on Satsuki's cheek. "Your girlfriend might get the same scars you have."

It was a hard place for Naruto. "Okay, I give up."

Naruto raised his hands. Marui tossed Souta to one of his buddies and started approaching Naruto with the knife. Before Naruto himself really realised what he was doing, he picked a sai from the fallen backpack and rushed towards Marui with it. Marui tried to block Naruto with his knife but Naruto twisted the knife out of his hand easily with the sai.

"Wh- what?" Was all Marui had time to mutter before receiving a strong hit to the solar plexus and being out for the count.

While everyone was still in stupor from the suddenness of the situation, Naruto grabbed Souta's and Satsuki's hand and ran away picking up Satsuki's backpack on the way. They kept running as long as they could when suddenly Souta started gasping breath uncontrollably.

"I- I- c- can't breathe," Souta managed to say.

"_oh shit,"_ Was the only thing going through Naruto's mind. "Satsuki, it's only a couple hundred meters to our place, I'll go get some medicine that opens up his throat a little. Comfort him and tell him to breathe, show him the rhythm.

Naruto went off towards the orphanage as fast as he could. When he arrived the door wasn't locked, which was rather strange but he went in right away. Awaiting in the livingroom was Matsuko. And five strong looking men who were wearing a black gi and a fat guy with extremely round cheeks and a bald head who was wearing a white blue t-shirt, white shorts and sandals.

"Matsuko-san! Souta had another attack!" Naruto yelled ignoring the extremely weird guests for the moment. "I need that medicine fast or he might die!"

"You shouldn't ignore us Naruto-kun, we came here because we have business with you." The fat man said, smiling widely.

"I don't care what it is, my friend is in danger! Matsuko-san I need that medi - " Naruto stopped as he noticed something peculiar, a pair of legs coming out from one of the bedroom doorways. "Matsuko-san, what is going on?"

Matsuko hid her face in her hands. "I'm sorry Naruto-kun."

"What is this," Naruto asked, getting a little panicked. "wh- what do you want from me?"

"Finally you realize what's important, Naruto-kun." The fat man said, his grin growing wider. "Matsuko-san here sold you out, so you have to come with us now."

"Matsuko-san, what is this?" Naruto didn't understand, what did they mean sold him out.

Matsuko's head fell even deeper into her hands and she said in a small voice, "Just go with these nice men, Naruto-kun. That's all you have to do."

Finally the pieces started to fall into place in Naruto's head. For whatever reason, these men had bought Naruto and Matsuko had consented to it. Naruto felt sick to his stomach and wanted to throw up.

"There you have it, now come with us," One of the men in gi uniform said and grasped Naruto's shoulder.

At that moment, everything went black for two seconds and he heard a hard clashing sound. When he could see again, he saw the silverhaired swordsman he had seen the day before in a pushing his huge pearl white blade against a purple, bubbling mace with protruding black spikes. Naruto also noticed all of the gi wearing men laid dead on the ground and Matsuko had backed to the wall with a terrified expression on her face.

"Kangryu!" The fat man roared. "You are the last person I would have expected to see here."

"Yeah, well, things don't always go as you expect do they," The man called Kangryu answered as they both grinded their teeth, presumably from the force of pushing their weapons as hard as they could. "I was curious who was the one who snapped the info about Namikaze's son off the Broker, to think it was you, Chujinbo, I think I might have been a bit lucky."

The fat man named Chujinbo seemed to be gaining edge in their power struggle as he started to push Kangryu's blade back. Finally their weapons separated which sent out a shock blast that knocked Naruto down and made the room a mess. What happened next was incomprehensible to Naruto as Kangryu's hand virtually disappeared into series of flurries and Chujinbo started making a lot of blocking movements some of which Naruto could see.

"You and your attack speed Kangryu, so annoying," Chujinbo said as they took a small break to observe each other. "Why are you out of The Front Line, Kangryu? You are the biggest FLA dog I know but you are all the way in a shithole like Konoha at a time like this. Surely you didn't come over Magris' just to prevent my vengeance on Namikaze's kid."

"Do you think I'm stupid Chujinbo?" Kangryu asked with his stare hard as steel. "I know you don't want his life. Do you really believe I don't know about _that_?"

"I see," Chujinbo said as he too seemed to get more serious. "If you know about _that_, I guess we have to fight. Since if you know about _that_, you also know I just can't leave without it."

"Then let's fight, but let's not do it here, it's a little too restricted, don't you think so too?" Kangryu asked, after Chujinbo nodded, Kangryu turned to Naruto. "I'm sorry we messed up your house kid. Take this to the other kid by the way and put it in his mouth, it will cure his disease."

Naruto caught a small bag of powder Kangryu threw at him, he swiftly put it in his pocket. After that everything went for a second and he felt a whoosh. When he could see again, there was only Matsuko in the room.

Matsuko stared at him, her eyes were wet and her cheeks had several drying tears.

"I- I'm sorry Naruto, I- I just couldn't take it anymore," Matsuko said, starting to sob softly. "T- they offered me a lot of money and riches and a great place to live far away from here."

"Di- Did you really want to give me to those men, ju- just for something like _money_ and _a place to stay_?" Naruto felt the shock starting to recede slowly but what he found under was nothing better, he found a wall, starting to break.

As the wall broke, Naruto started to sob uncontrollably and he felt like vomitting on the floor. He felt he had been betrayed completely.

"Wh- Why, I thought you loved me, us, how could you do that to me?!" Naruto managed to ask in between his sobs and gags to hold in his vomit.

"Why...? Do you think I had any choice?!" Matsuko snapped. "D- Do you think I wanted to live in underground, in this rat hole, my whole life?! All while being treated like an unneeded roach and paid so I would remain one for sure for the rest of my life. That together with all you kids screaming, "I need this, I need that." How long do you think I can take that before going insane."

Matsuko rose and started walking towards Naruto, her eyes were wide and teary, she obviously wasn't thinking straight anymore. She grabbed Naruto by his throat and started to choke him.

"It's all your fault! Your fault! If you useless kids didn't exist I wouldn't have to endure all of this!" She said while shaking Naruto by his throat.

At that moment Naruto heard clatter from outside the door and then several masked ANBU members came through the door.

"DROP THE BOY!" Came a yell, as they rushed towards Naruto and Matsuko. "GET DOWN! NOW!"

The ANBU knocked Matsuko off of Naruto and pushed her to the ground and put hand-cuffs on her.

"Are you okay?" A purple haired ANBU with a cat mask asked him. "Can you explain what happened here?"

"My friend! My friend needs help, really fast he has a breathing problem, he's around two hundred meters west of here. Also I think there are dead people in the other rooms." Naruto said blocking everything out of his mind for a while and focusing on his mission to save Souta. "But please let me go see my friend to make sure he's okay!"

"We saw them on the way here and sent for a couple of medics," The ANBU said. "We can take you there if you think it will help you calm down."

"Please do! There's also something I have to give him," Even though Naruto couldn't trust the man called Kangryu for sure, he felt that his intentions were pure and wanted to do anything he could to help Souta.

Naruto left with the cat masked ANBU and one other while the others stayed behind to do forensics. They had made most of the way when Naruto spotted the medics and Souta laying on a stretcher. He took off running as he noticed something strange. The medics were covering Souta with a white cloth. He also noticed Satsuki squatting on the ground crying.

"No, no, no, HE CAN'T BE DEAD!" Naruto yelled crying as he arrived. "That can't be possible!"

"I'm sorry, there is nothing that can be done anymore, it was death by lack of oxygen." One of the medics said, looking at his feet.

"You are lying!" Naruto screamed as he grasped the bottom of the man's shirt with his small hands. "You must be wrong... Souta can't die like that!"

Naruto heard Satsuki's sobbing intensify as he shook the medic's shirt.

"You can always do something! Give him this powder! The man said it can cure his disease! PLEASE!" Naruto begged in the midst of his tears.

"...I'm sorry, but there is nothing we can do to save a dead person," The medic repeated.

Naruto's strength was no longer enough and he collapsed down to his knees in front of the medic and threw up at his feet.

"Why... why... did Souta have to die... WHY DID ALL OF THIS HAVE TO HAPPEN?!" Naruto screamed as Satsuki broke down in full blown bawl too.

"You should take today to rest and get in terms with what happened," The cat masked ANBU said understandingly. "We can question you tomorrow or in a couple of days. We'll take care of the dirtier work meanwhile. Do you have a place to stay for tonight?"

"He can stay at my home tonight," Satsuki said through sobs, after seeing Naruto shake his head. "I'm sure my parents will understand."

"I see, that's good, I'm sorry Naruto-kun but I'll put you asleep for a moment, I think you would prefer it that way too, to give your brain some time to recover from the initial shock of this all."

That was the last thing Naruto heard before feeling a sting on his hand and falling a sleep.

When Naruto came to, he was laying down in a bed. He felt a little drowzy and saw it was already dark from the window. Then he recalled what had happened earlier and he felt the weight inside him increase thousand fold as he started sobbing.

Satsuki came through the door at that moment in white pajamas. She was carrying a small wet towel she dropped when she noticed Naruto was awake and crying.

"I'm sorry Naruto, I didn't want to leave you alone but I had to get a new towel for your forehead," Satsuki said while hurrying to Naruto's side and pulling his head into a hug. "You have a huge fever and no wonder after what you had to go through."

"The ANBU people came by earlier and told us the basics of what happened," Satsuki's voiced gained an uncharasteric edge of total contempt "Apparently that wench told them everything straight away, I hope they tortured her well for what she dared to do to you, Naruto-kun."

"It hurts, Satsuki, I don't understand how she could ever do that, we had so much fun together," Naruto said, still crying desperately.

Satsuki jumped into the bed with Naruto.

"I don't know Naruto-kun," Satsuki said, pulling his head to a hug, while petting his hair and whispering into his ear. "But don't worry, I'll protect you so just go back to sleep and sleep the pain away, I'll be just here the whole night, watching over you."

Naruto's sobbing softened and he fell asleep to the peaceful caressing of Satsuki.


	2. Tests of Strengths, and Some Happiness

**Chapter 2**

"I have not seen that ceiling before," Naruto muttered as he awoke.

Naruto looked around a bit and his eyes fixed on the lying figure besides him. Memories from last night flooded his night as he looked at the sleeping Satsuki. He didn't feel like crying anymore though, all of the tears had been exhausted and he just felt empty reflecting what had happened.

Not wanting to wake up Satsuki, Naruto put aside the black blanket with an Uchiha fan and rose from the bed. He made sure the blanket still covered Satsuki and set off to find someone.

Naruto roamed the hallways admiring the art on the walls and bumped into Mikoto who was wearing an apron, a wide strawhat and rubber gloves.

"Ara, Naruto-kun. I thought you would be sleeping longer after what you had to go through and went to do some morning gardening," Mikoto smiled her usual gentle smile albeit laced with sadness. "I'll finish some things in the garden, please go get some breakfast from the kitchen over there," Mikoto pointed the far right doorway. "Take anything you want from the fridge."

Naruto started slouching that way as he heard Mikoto say omething from behind him.

"By the way, you two were so cute sleeping together like that."

Naruto blushed and picked up his pace towards the kitchen, hearing gentle giggling from behind him.

As he arrived at the kitchen he noticed a rugged looking man wearing a green kimono at the dinner table.

He kept reading the newspaper and sipping his coffee even as Naruto entered the room.

"Umm... Good morning," Naruto said a bit meekly. "I am Uzumaki Naruto, sorry for causing you trouble."

The man grunted back a slight acknowledgement but still didn't raise his eyes from the paper. Naruto thought the man, who he presumed to be Satsuki's father, didn't want to be bothered and went to the fridge. He looked around for a bit and took out the butter and juice. He started to spread the butter on a piece of bread as he wondered where the glasses where.

The man at the table appeared besides him and took a glass out of a cupboard Naruto couldn't reach and handed it to him. Naruto thanked him as he poured down his juice but the man just walked back to the table and continued to read. Naruto joined him at the table to eat his own food.

Once he took his first bite he realised how hungry he had been and finished the bread at the speed of light. After having a couple more pieces of bread he burped contently and remained seated watching Satsuki's father in awkward silence.

"Umm, good weather, isn't it?" Naruto asked trying to get out something from the man.

The man was still reading for a while but then he closed the newspaper.

"Are you planning to go to the ninja academy?" The man asked, his black eyes suddenly piercing Naruto.

"Y- yes Sir," Naruto said, tumbling with his words after an unexpected question.

"I see. Take Satsuki on your team, her skill set will complement you well," The man said as he rose and left the room.

Naruto stayed still dumbfounded, not sure what to make of that exchange of words.

"Naruto-kun, did you eat already?" Came Mikoto's voice from the doorway

Mikoto had taken off her gardening equipment and joined Naruto at the table with a cup of coffee. Naruto nodded at her.

"Did you talk with my husband?" Mikoto questioned. "I saw him coming from here and leaving for work when I came."

"Yes, we talked a little," Naruto said a little sheepishly.

"Oh I'm sorry, Fugaku's always so grumpy before work and he isn't very good with children," Mikoto apologized. "By the way, the ANBU people said they will come around noon to take you to an interrogation regarding what happened yesterday. Do you think you are ready to talk about it?"

"Yeah, I think I've calmed enough for the moment," Naruto said. "I'm sure I can do it."

"Very well," Mikoto smiled gently. "If you feel unsure, just tell me, I'll throw those ANBU people out if they try anything."

Naruto smiled courteously and sipped a little juice.

"Seriously? You are going to the ANBU today?!" Satsuki's voice sounded from the door. "I don't think that's a good idea, you should still rest for today."

"Don't worry Satsuki," Naruto said, his empty feeling warming a little from the worry Satsuki was showing. "I'd rather take care of it sooner rather than later."

-OOO-

Naruto had been fetched by the ANBU and he was being escorted to the main government building, which was the largest structure in Konoha. It was six floors and extremely wide consisting of hundreds of office spaces. He was taken to the middle of the highest floor through fancy looking double doors and he arrived in an even fancier room that was completely red except for the dark wooden floor and the several furniture. There was also a large stone plate with Konoha's symbol carved in it behind a circular table. On one of the seats there was a man waiting.

"Hello, Naruto-kun," The man smiled as he dismissed the ANBU. "Impressive room is it not? It's the room of the city council. All the decisions regarding the city are made here. Come sit down."

Naruto walked warily to the seat the man was offering next to him. He had a short black stylized hair, yellow eyes and black rimmed glasses and a white suit, pants and black shoes. He looked like he was in his early twenties but carried himself with an air of confidence.

"My name is Asakura Kanata," The man exclaimed as he shook Naruto's hand. "I'm the head advisor to the mayor of Konoha. Now, I'm sorry for what happened to you but we have a lot of stuff to talk about."

Naruto stayed silent as the man called Kanata scrambled some papers.

"This is a very problematic case for us Uzumaki-kun and you must swear not to talk about anything I tell you, do you understand?" Kanata asked very seriously.

Naruto nodded and waited for him to continue.

"You are the son of the fourth hokage." Kanata said as he adjusted his glasses.

"...What?" Naruto's eyes widened.

Why did every conversation today have to be so weird was the only thing Naruto could get running in his mind at the moment.

"We had to hide it from you, and everybody else to protect you," Kanata said, observing Naruto. "Your father had a lot of enemies -".

"So we had to hide you from prying eyes and we placed you into that orphanage while having ANBU guard you from the shadows," Said an old man who had just entered the room. "Unfortunately, some bitter individuals leaked the information about Kyubi being sealed inside you. That made us have to be even more careful. We are lucky the people after you didn't want revenge but probably the Kyubi. _Cough cough."_

"Hokage-sama, what are you doing here?!" Kanata hurried to the side of the old man with a walking stick. "You should be resting and not exerting yourself like that."

"No!" The Third Hokage declared. "I've had enough rest. I feel like this is a business I must take care of myself. I owe that to Minato."

Kanata looked like he was about to protest but was silenced by the Hokage's stare of steel. Kanata left the room to leave the two to talk.

"The Kyubi," Naruto raised his voice for the first time in a while. "Why was it sealed in me?"

"You must understand Naruto," The Hokage started. "We had no choice. We had every ninja stationed in Konoha shooting that thing down with jutsus but it had an overpowering regeneration rate. As a last resort, Minato decided to seal the fox. We needed a person who had a sizable amount of chakra but it had to be unawakened. I believe Minato felt it was wrong to seal the Kyubi into any other child than you."

"I see. I guess I can understand that," Naruto accepted. "What kind of a person was my father, and my mother?"

"Namikaze Minato, Your father, was a very able man." The Hokage smiled. "He was the strongest man in Konoha in a long while, it was a sad day when he had to sacrifice himself to seal the Kyubi. He did everything he could for his people and thanks to his power reaching even the cabinets of the capital, he improved the quality of life for the average people in Konoha, unfortunately a lot of it was undone after his death," The Hokage's smile turned down a tone. "As for your mother, I don't know much about her, she was a very quiet and private woman by the name of Uzumaki Kushina. She carried an aura of grace all the way to her death when she died giving birth to you."

Naruto felt a little like crying again but held it back. The Hokage seemed to wait for Naruto to say something but continued as he didn't answer.

"Now that there are people out there who know your identity, our priorities will also move from hiding you to protecting you. You spent last night at your friend's house in the Uchiha clan. How was it, would you like to move in with them?"

"Excuse me?" Naruto asked in disbelief not quite sure he had heard that right.

"I asked if you would like to stay with the Uchiha's," The Hokage asked fully smiling once again. "You've been through rough times and I came to realise you do need a family. Fugaku-san was one of the people who fought for your custody since he was a friend of Minato's. Looking back, putting you in to an orphanage was a horrible decision, I am sorry for that."

"I- I can't believe it... If they really want me then... Of course I will live with them! Satsuki is my only friend left and she's really nice and Mikoto-san is really nice too!" Naruto jumped up, forgetting all the sad things for a moment. "And don't worry about the orphanage, I don't think I could appreciate a family like this if I hadn't been there."

"You are a wise child, Naruto," The Hokage said and gave Naruto's shoulders an encouraging squeeze. "Now, Before I go, let me hand you this."

The Hokage reached under his cloak and took out a scroll and a card.

"Your father left these for you," The Hokage handed both of them to Naruto. "To open this scroll, you need to willingly give it your chakra, so you can't open it before your chakra gets awakened. As for this card, it's an access card to a deposit box in the Central Bank of Fire Country in Honou. It probably contains the majority of what he left for you."

"Why didn't you give it to me earlier?" Naruto asked, getting slightly frustrated with all of these secrets.

"Calm down, Naruto-kun. We were planning to give these to you after you reached adulthood or when you became a shinobi," The Hokage sighed. "You must understand, if my assumptions are correct, this scroll contains a terrifying technique Minato never taught to anybody else. I am showing you my utmost trust after everything I have heard about you. Keep it safe, never tell about it to anyone."

"I don't think I can do that," Naruto confessed. "I will share it with my new best friend for sure."

"Are you talking about Uchiha Satsuki?" The Hokage asked, to which Naruto nodded. "I suppose it can't be helped but make sure it's in a place where there is no chance at all of it getting to the wrong hands. Ninjas have a lot of ways to hear and see things they want. So promise me you will not open this scroll before you have completed the academy and fully understand the risks involved."

"...Okay, I won't open it," Naruto smiled. "But it will only be six years you know, before I'll be a full-fledged shinobi. Soon after that I'll overcome all of you and become the strongest shinobi in the world!"

"Hohoho!"The Hokage laughed heartily and ended up coughing. "You have a lot of confidence, I like that. Just don't let it go to your head if you want to be a ninja. Never let the most confident man lead for he lacks self-critique."

The Hokage rose from his seat and picked up his walking stick.

"Well then, it was good meeting you face to face Naruto-kun. An ANBU representative will still be coming to ask you a few things so wait here," The Hokage said as he shook Naruto's hand. "I must now attend other things, unless you have any more questions?"

After Naruto shaked his head the Hokage left. Just a few moments later a purple haired ANBU with a cat mask came through the doorway. Naruto recognized her from the day before at the orphanage.

"You are from yesterday," Naruto said pointing his finger at her a little dumbly.

"Yes I am, you can call me Neko, Naruto-kun," Came a voice from under the mask. "I'm sorry for your friend. I am also sorry for being so late yesterday, we shouldn't have trusted _that _man to watch over you. He felt it was a good idea to read a stupid book instead of watching what was happening. We made sure he was punished appropriately do not worry about that. Now, I don't want to keep you here too long so could you just tell me your version of what happened yesterday, just to make sure we have all the facts right."

Naruto told the woman everything that had happened, including meeting the silver haired swordman named Kangryu, the day before the incident.

"We don't have clear information who the man named Kangryu is, all we know are rumours about his skill as a swordsman," Neko informed Naruto. "As for Chujinbou, he's the kingpin of the largest Hanzaijuku in the Fire Country, Horongdai. We have tried to infiltrate his organization, Horongtai, numerous times but so far it's been in vain. He's basically an untouchable at the moment unless he does something to directly piss off the Capital."

"Ano... Just what is a Hanzaijuku?" Naruto wondered.

"Oh, they are like illegal cities, mostly filled with all kinds of criminal activities and inhabited by unwanted people. The government doesn't really have the time and resources to start getting rid of them so they rise and get razed in a few years by monster attacks since they lack government protection. Some of the bigger ones are protected by powerful people like Chujinbou, because of him and his people, Horongdai has been standing for a long time."

After seeing Naruto's look of concern, the ninja added.

"You don't need to worry though, the Uchiha will be more than capable of protecting you. Also, it might just be that you don't need to worry about that man any longer, if the rumours about Kangryu are even half true. Any questions?"

Naruto couldn't think of anything at first, he just wanted to get back to the Uchiha's and tell Satsuki how happy he was about being able to live there. Then he thought of something after all.

"Could I..." Naruto started, hesitating a little. "Could I see my friend Souta one more time before he's buried?"

"I can take you to the mortuary right now. I was going to go buy some lunch anyway," Neko said as she stretched like a cat. "Oh, one thing before that. With you being the main victim in the orphanage incident, how would you like the matron punished? It's a pretty big crime she did. Do you want her executed, banished, or perhaps you want to forgive her?"

"You are leaving such a decision to me?!" Naruto asked, shocked.

"Well, officially it's my decision as the director of Konoha's affairs in the ANBU," Neko announced. "A lot of us in the ANBU owe your father a lot. The least I can do is let you decide what to do with the person who tried to sell you."

"Alright but I want to see her first." Naruto stated, determined.

-OOO-

Naruto and Neko arrived at the gaol of Konoha which was located at the very corner of the city, leaning against the city wide protection wall of Konoha. The structure itself was made of steel with no markings outside to inform of it's purpose. With food being scarce even for people who abode by laws, getting sent to the gaol basically meant there was no room for you in the system and it's better for you to disappear for good.

The two entered a room which was split in half by a set of bars.

"This is the room where prisoners meet outsiders," Neko told Naruto. "Wait here, I'll bring her from the other side."

Soon the door on the other side of the bars opened and a familiar figure slouched through it wearing a gray cape. After only one night in the gaol she looked ragged.

"Naruto?" Matsuko asked as her eyes were getting used to the light. "Naruto, I knew you would come for me. Please tell them it was a misunderstanding! This place is so horrible, I can't stay here. Naruto you know I love you right? I just thought of your best."

"Souta is dead," Naruto said his head hanging down. "Because of you I couldn't help him in time and he's dead."

"I'm sorry Naruto," Matsuko said, getting visibly agitated. "I didn't know they would lay a hand on anybody and how could I have known about Souta's situation?! I just wanted you to be able to live safely somewhere else! Please, just please get me out of here."

"You don't seem sorry at all," Naruto said, grinding his teeth and looking straight at her. "It's like the only person you care about is yourself. I'll help you get out of here."

"Really? You will help me?" Matsuko asked hopefully as Naruto walked out of the room.

"So, your verdict?" Neko inquired, leaning against the wall next to the door Naruto had come out of.

"I don't think she should be able to hurt anyone ever again," Naruto stated, bitterness leaking from his voice.

"I see," Neko said, her voice indifferent. "Then follow me, I'll take care of it but you should at the very least see the life you deprive."

Naruto followed her back inside. Matsuko seemed happy and kept thanking Naruto the ANBU started opening the lock with her keys. As the door opened and Matsuko tried to get out, Neko's arm moved swiftly.

In the span of a small moment Naruto saw a look of confusion on Matsuko's face and her eyes widen, then her head slid off her shoulders and fell sideways into the ground, body following soon after.

Not wanting to see such a thing, Naruto ran out of the room eyes wide and slumped to the floor. He heard as Neko came through the door soon after.

"You shouldn't feel guilty," Neko said gently and touched Naruto's shoulder. "She definitely deserved that after what she put you through. I just wanted you to see that, because you will see a lot more of it if you want to become a ninja. To gain, you must kill, that is how it generally goes in this world. There are a lot of evil people out there, you can't hesitate when you take their lives. There are also people following orders, trying to make their living in this dark world and feed their families however they can, you also can't hesitate to kill them. There are also good people, who might have been misled, or simply see the world in a different way, you can't hesitate to kill them. You mustn't feel any guilt for killing them either, they knew what they were getting into in this game of life. It's either them or you and feeling guilt will leave you crippled in your next fight, so find people you can share happiness with. The three man cell system Konoha uses wasn't created just because it's advantageous in combat."

Naruto couldn't really concentrate on what he was hearing and could only nod as a storm of emotions raged inside him. He decided on one thing though, he would not cry for someone who killed his best friend, even if they shared some happy memories together.

"You are in a sad place in this world if you have no power, be it political, monetary, or pure strength," Neko added. "And you need a lot of all of those powers to change anything in the world, that's why I dont want you to regret anything you do. Your father wouldn't want it either."

"...I don't think I want to see Souta today..." Naruto said while rising slowly. "I think... I just want to go... _home._"

"Come, I'll take you there," Neko said, Naruto could swear she was smiling under the mask. "By the way, we agreed that you can't move outside the Uchiha compound without an escort as long as we feel it's unsafe. I'm busy tomorrow so ask someone from the Uchiha clan to take you to the mortuary if you wish to see your friend. It'll be a couple of days before he is buried."

Naruto had made his way back to the Uchiha compound with Neko and was standing behind the door of Satsuki's house. He was contemplating whether he should knock or just walk in now that it was also his home. The decision was soon made for him as he heard Mikoto's voice from behind the door.

"Naruto-kun, come in, you shouldn't just stand outside the door."

He opened the door slowly and saw Fugaku, Mikoto and Satsuki standing there. Naruto walked towards them with slight hesitation. However, Mikoto walked to Naruto and pulled him into a hug.

"Okaerinasai, Naruto-kun," Mikoto said while holding him.

"Tadaima, Mikoto-san," Naruto said as he started crying, this time from happiness, from finally finding a place where he belonged. Naruto felt he could turn everything bad that had happened into a nightmare and begin anew.

"If you wish, you can call me mom from now on," Mikoto said as she embraced Naruto. "After all, we will be living as a family from on."

"Okay... mom," Just saying those words made Naruto feel warm.

"Please do forgive us for our presumptions but we prepared your room for you," Mikoto said. "We believed you would say you want to stay with us."

"Come check it out Naruto!" Satsuki said excitedly.

"Wait," Naruto started, turning to Fugaku and splitting into a smile the first time since everything happened. "Thanks, old man! I heard you tried to adopt me when my parents died, too bad that didn't work out! But now I'm here!"

"W- well... krhm, it's nothing," Fugaku said not really knowing how to respond to the energetic outburst. "I- I couldn't accept Hokage's plan to locate you into an orphanage and as we can see I was right. I believe we can provide you a proper growing environment."

"Oh stop it Fugaku," Mikoto said rolling her eyes. "Talking to a child so seriously. Your own child nonetheless."

Satsuki took Naruto to the room he had slept in the night before. It had been a modest guest room before but now it was decorated with beautiful crimson curtains. The bed had been upgraded to a bigger one with black sheets and red sheets, which were the Uchiha colors. The corners had elegant tatami floor lamps that added to the red hue of the room the curtains caused. In the corner there was a weapon rack with different kinds of sheathed weapons.

"Mom and dad felt it was time to get us both our own set of weapons since we'll enter academy in two weeks!" Satsuki said while Naruto was looking at everything awe-struck. "Check the closet, you don't have to worry about clothes anymore either."

"Thank you, Satsuki," Naruto said as he looked around his new clothes. "It's pretty funny we've only known for a couple of days, but you gave me a family and all this just for having agreed to be friends with you."

"Well that's what friends are supposed to be for right?" Satsuki smirked. "Besides, we aren't just friends from today on right, you'll be my little brother! I've always wanted one actually."

"Okay," Naruto laughed the best he could. "I'm not gonna call you onee-chan though! You aren't even that much older than me."

-OOO-

Naruto spent the next two weeks mostly relaxing while doing some studying with Satsuki. He had also gone to see Souta for the last time, as a silly thought he had fed Souta the powder Kangryu had left him. Nothing had happened of course but Naruto had felt there was no harm in trying it at least.

The morning was chilling and it was drizzling outside so Naruto opted for a black Uchiha hoodie and beige cargo shorts. With clothing done Satsuki and Naruto left for the Academy Grounds accompanied by Mikoto. The Academy Grounds were bustling with people as the new semester was about to begin, there were thousands and thousands of them filling the numerous roofed amphitheaters where the lectures were held. As new students Naruto and Satsuki had to wait in a line to get their chakra checked, to make sure they had enough to awaken it. It was also used to weed out people whose chakra was already awakened. If that was the case you couldn't enter the academy because the chance of spies was considered too dangerous.

"Hrrr, I'm cold!" Naruto whined when Mikoto left after dropping them off.

"I told you to put on long pants," Satsuki said annoyedly. "You can't whine about it anymore since you didn't listen."

The two waited a couple of hours as their line shrank. It was sad seeing some people come away crying or looking sad because they didn't born with enough chakra and couldn't fulfill their dreams because of something like that. Even Naruto felt a weight in his gut about the what if, even though he was assured he would have enough chakra by Satsuki and her parents.

"You shouldn't worry about it, Naruto," Satsuki said, obviously having noticed Naruto's perplexion. "Dad said he is hundred percent sure you have enough chakra, he would never lie about something like that."

Soon it was finally their turn, Satsuki went first next to the person waiting with a weird machine.

"Hello there, please pull up your sleeve," The woman said. "I'm gonna take some of your blood for a quick test that you have enough chakra."

Satsuki ground her teeth a bit as the needle penetrated her skin. It was done fast and the woman inserted the needle into the machine next to her.

"You are clear, please enter amphitheater 1, 2 or 3 for the introductional event," The woman smiled.

Naruto went to the same woman and through the same procedure but when the woman was checking her machine her face turned an odd expression.

"Just a moment," The woman said as she rose up. "I need to talk to the manager for this."

Soon after the woman came back with a man who had straight longish brown hair and was holding a piece of grass between in his mouth. The man ignored Naruto and looked at the machine.

"See?" The tester woman asked the newly arrived manager. "It's like that even though it's unawakened. I've never seen something like that before."

"You, what's your name?" The manager asked turning to Naruto.

"It's Uzumaki Naruto..." Naruto said feeling pressured. "Ano... Is there a problem Sir?"

"Uzumaki Naruto huh," The man thought aloud. "There's no problem. You may go."

The manager left and Naruto started moving out off the testing area towards the amphitheaters where he reunited with Satsuki. They decided to go to amphitheater number three which was furthest away and likely had the least people.

As they arrived they were handed document sheets to fill in their personal information, then they entered the theater to find themselves amidst a sea of people looking for seats. When they finally found their seats Naruto looked around and saw people from all different walks of life but their age didn't seem to go above thirty which Naruto assumed was the limit to enter the academy.

After a while an older man with a black beard came to the stage below and started talking about stuff like how the academy worked, most of which Naruto already knew about. At the end of his speech the man made a point that there was no waiting for anyone in the curriculum and if you felt you couldn't keep up you should submit your resignation. "This job is for the best, if you ain't one of them, you should stop wasting everyone's time, including your own and especially mine." He had said.

There was a recess before the first real lecture and people flooded outdoors as the rain had already stopped. Outside there was a large running track and hundreds of body excercising equipment in the middle area of it. A lot of the senpais had gone straight there to train their bodies while most of the first years were standing around awkwardly, being new to the place. Except Naruto who couldn't contain his excitement of finally being in the place he had waited for so long.

"Hey Satsuki, check this out, I wonder what this device does," Naruto said as he jumped to a weirdly curved chair that had weights on the top. "Maybe I have to push them up like this?"

"Err, I think you have to sit the other way around and push the weights up with your legs," Satsuki snickered.

"Umm, it's not really working," Naruto muttered as he tried pushing the weights up with his legs. "They aren't moving at all."

"Buzz off kids, this is our spot, not a playground for shrimps."

Naruto looked to his left and saw a group of muscular men in their late teens.

"You didn't hear me?" The biggest looking guy in front said. "I said this is our spot and you should leave."

"Oh, I can't see your nameplate on it though," Satsuki retorted with a sneer.

"Let me make this clear brat," The guy said pointing at Satsuki with his finger. "You go, or we drag you out."

"I'd like to see you try that!" Naruto yelled out defiantly.

Naruto stared the big guy straight into his eyes with confidence that even stopped him for a little bit but then he shrugged it off and started walking towards Naruto.

"Wait just a second tough guy!"

Another group had arrived. This one was stranger than the tough guy group. It was headed by a girl Naruto thought was the same age as him. She had long, even blue hair that reached the small of her back and she was wearing a jacket with different hues of blue and black pants designed for ninjas. She was even shorter than Naruto. There were around 30 people in her group, most of them a lot older than the girl. They all shared a similar charasteristic though, all of them had lavender eyes. Naruto soon recognized it as the trademark of the Hyuga clan.

"Aren't you embarrassed?" The little girl continued. "Nothing better to do than bully little kids?"

"Who the heck are you to talk to us like that?" The big guy asked, although visibly hesitant because of the opposing group's size. "Just because you are from the Hyuga clan don't think so highly of yourself kid."

"I am the heiress to the Hyuga clan, Hyuga Hinata, for your information." The little girl smirked. "My father happens to be a generous donator to the academy. You wouldn't want to get kicked out of the academy for trouble making would you tough guy?"

The guy just looked at the Hyuga heiress for a while as if he was debating something with himself.

"Cheh, let's go guys," Tough guy said and their group left without stirring any more trouble.

"I'm Uzumaki Naruto!" Naruto walked to the girl, ready to shake her hand. "Thank you for the help."

"Don't mention it," Hinata smiled but didn't extend her hand. "I simply feel that as a virtuous person I should help the poor and the weak," Hinata turned to Satsuki and looked at her down her nose with a wicked smile. "I also felt _pity_ for the poor Uchiha heiress for getting bullied on her first day, of course I had to help."

"Shut up Hyuga," Satsuki said her eyes narrowing. "Let's go, Naruto."

Satsuki grabbed Naruto's hand and started dragging him away.

"Still sore you lost to me at our last spar?!" Hinata yelled after them. "Running away like that, has the Uchiha clan lost all its?! Not that you had any of it left I think after adopting a common orphan!"

Satsuki stopped after hearing the last bit. Her eyes turned from annoyance to visible anger. Naruto hadn't seen her this angry since after the orphanage incident.

"I got it," Satsuki growled. "If you want a match that bad I'll give it to you, I don't care what you babble about dignity but I won't let you insult my little brother."

Naruto was contemplating whether or not he should interrupt. Hinata obviously wasn't the good person he thought she was from the first impression. If Hinata wanted a fair sparring duel, Naruto was actually interested to see how she would fight and how Satsuki fared against someone other than himself. if Hinata tried something underhanded however, he was ready to jump in Satsuki's defense.

"Stay back Naruto, I'm gonna beat her this time," Satsuki said, bracing herself.

"Hoo, I was sure you'd run away after the humiliation last time," Hinata said, her smile growing overzealous. "Well then, let's go with the normal rules, first to get a facial hit wins."

The two entered their fighting poses, Satsuki tightened her fists normally. Hinata however had an interesting pose, holding her hands in an open palm style.

"I've learned a lot more techniques about Jüken since the last time we fought," Hinata tried further intimidating Satsuki. "Even if I can't use chakra or my eyes yet, it is enough to crush the likes of you."

As the two entered their forms, a sizable crowd had began forming around the spectacle. People were whispering and laughing about two kids taking on each other.

The heiresses were standing still for a while just observing each other, then suddenly Satsuki took the first move. She springed towards Hinata with a speed Naruto hadn't seen before. Her fist approached Hinata's cheek with an unexpected velocity as Hinata barely blocked it with her hand. Hinata jumped back swiftly, her eyes showing her surprise.

"Going all-out from the beginning?" Hinata smiled with narrow eyes but she looked like she was a bit distraught from the fast offensive.

"Two months is a long time, isn't it just that you got too cocky and stopped improving," Satsuki smirked.

"Don't pretend you know something about me!" Hinata bared her teeth and went on a counter offensive.

She went on a flurry of open palm attacks towards Satsuki's body, trying to lower her guard on her face.

Satsuki received several hard hitting hits to her stomach and ribcage and gasped a bit but managed to block the hits towards her face.

After blocking Hinata's hits for a while and being pushed back by her, Satsuki tried to trip Hinata with a quick leg movement. Hinata noticed this and jumped back again.

"Heh, you know you can't defeat me with your fists so you have to resort to tricks," Hinata giggled, having regained her confidence. "How cute."

"Being a ninja isn't about honor," Satsuki said as she took off to attack Hinata again. "But I'm sure you of all people know that."

Hinata stopped smiling as she prepared to block. Satsuki charged straight at Hinata with her fist aimed at the Heiress' face. Hinata easily stopped it with her hands and noticed an opening due to Satsuki's overextending.

"You still can't beat me!" Hinata yelled as she went for Satsuki's face with her other hand.

At that moment Satsuki spun into a somersault and got off a kick at Hinata's chin. A puddle splashed as Hinata fell into it with her butt.

"You are too greedy Hinata," Satsuki was smirking. "I'm actually offended you thought that was a real mistake."

Hinata cringed as she rose up from the puddle. She wiped some of the mud off her butt and was about to say something but she was suddenly interrupted.

"Hinata!"

The egotistical girl did something unexpected as she completely froze with a panicked expression on her face. Hinata turned slowly towards the voice who belonged to a Hyuga man in his fourties, wearing a white hakama. He walked out of the crowd towards Hinata.

*****slap*

The man's hand went across Hinata's cheek hard. Hinata's head was thrown back with her eyes wide and you could see a red mark forming fast.

"I come here for business and this is what I see. I'm disappointed in you," The man said in a despising tone. "We will talk after the day is over, don't soil the dignity of our clan any further."

"Yes, father," Hinata said while looking at her feet. "I'm sorry father."

The man started leaving as everybody was in complete silence. Naruto couldn't take it however.

"Oi, ossan," Naruto said as he walked in front of the Hyuga. "That's not how you're supposed to treat your children."

Naruto felt a slight _whump _and realised he had switched places with the Hyuga patriarch who continued walking away from Naruto nonchalantly.

"Don't even try to patronize my father you worthless scum," Hinata spat out and then turned to her entourage. "Let's go back, the class should start soon, and go get me new pants."

"She has some issues, doesnt she," Naruto wondered aloud, to which Satsuki nodded. "I guess we should start heading back in too."

-OOO-

"Welcome back everyone, we have an important thing to take care of now," Said a young woman who had joined the lecturer. "Awakening your chakra."

This prompted murmuring from the crowd of people.

"Usually we've done this stuff a bit later but looks like there's been a change in schedule brats!" The lecturer said heartily

The man presented a trolley that had small cups filled with a clear liquid on it.

"Come 'ere kids and form a line and get a cup for yourselves," The man said.

"This liquid will force you into a trance that will let you open your inner chakra gates," The helper woman informed. "You can open them even without this liquid but it's hundreds of times harder and you would need a lot of experience in meditation. Once you drink it, you will enter a lucid dream inside your consciousness, you should find something that represents an obstacle there. Get rid of it and your chakra should start flowing throughout your body."

"Before I forget, it hurts like hell and you gonna be in bed shape for a couple of days so I'll even give you tomorrow off!" The lecturer yelled. "You shouldn't exert yourself for a week either. Not that you can, cuz' you gonna be so hammered!"

People were smiling nervously and there was some nervous whispering in the crowd.

After waiting a while in the line Naruto and Satsuki finally got their drinks and went to their seats.

"Kanpai!" Both of them said and gulped down their drinks

At first Naruto couldn't feel anything, he was just listening to the lecturer.

"Make sure you are in a comfortable posi-"

Suddenly everything went black.

Naruto felt wet, he looked around and it looked like he was in a sewer lit with torches. He pushed himself up, the water came near his knees.

The sewer didn't smell. Naruto was happy that his sewer was clean. He immediately laughed as his young mind wandered to the poop joke territory. He regained concentration swiftly and started wading through the water towards the ominous darkness.

After walking for what had felt like an eternity, he arrived at a humongous barred gate. It had a small slip of paper with the kanji for seal written on it keeping the doors together.

"_this must be it,_" Naruto thought.

He couldn't reach the seal so he started climbing one of the bars.

"_Yosha! Got it!" _Naruto pulled off the seal and the doors instantly slammed open throwing Naruto to the water.

Naruto waited and waited but nothing happened. He tried to get up but noticed his leg was stuck under something hard. He pulled as forcefully as he could and felt a hatch open.

The moment he the hatch came off Naruto felt a huge suction as the hole started sucking in all the water. Naruto tried to hold on to the edge, not to get pulled in but soon he couldn't hold on any longer and fell into the abyss.

Naruto flinched awake. He heard some screams and wailing, even some crying. He was still a little dazed from the trance inducing drug and wondered what was going on. Then he realized the burning feeling inside of him. It felt like molten lava was coursing through his veins and prickled him from the inside. He could barely stop himself from groaning in pain.

Satsuki was still unconscious. Naruto looked towards the front where the lecturer was laughing aloud.

"Come on you weak-willed wussies, it's only pain, stop acting like it's going to kill you! If you can't make it home by yourself you don't deserve to be a ninja. This is your first test, if you can't even get out of the academy ground by the time the sun is set, you dont deserve to be a ninja! I even gave you tomorrow off, be grateful newbies! Zehahaha!"

"_What an idiot," _Naruto thought and closed his eyes to cope with the pain.

After a couple of minutes he heard a gasp next to him as Satsuki woke up.

"How do you feel?" Naruto asked, with a little trouble speaking.

Satsuki didn't say anything for a while.

"It... burns... like... hell..." Satsuki finally got out of her mouth.

"Hahaha, doesn't it?" Naruto laughed a bit, causing his body to shake a little which intensified the pain. "The lecturer said we have to make it out of the academy grounds today by ourselves. If we can't do that we will get kicked out."

"I don't think I can get up yet, it hurts pretty bad," Satsuki whimpered.

"Ahhh!" Naruto let out a groan as he got up and felt like the fire spread throughout his body.

Some people were already moving a little but nobody seemed to have it easy. Naruto felt his legs wobbling as he fell back to the bench.

"I think we should wait a while," Naruto suggested. "It's not like we are in a hurry yet so let's wait for the effects to subside."

Satsuki gave a small nod in agreement.

The two writhed in their pain for a couple of hours. They talked about stupid things when they had the energy so they could move their mind away from the pain.

"Look, a lot of people have already left," Naruto said. "Are we that weak against pain I wonder..."

"I don't know, it doesn't seem to be getting any better for me either," Satsuki said, slight worry resounding from her voice. "It gets unbearable any time I try to move even a little."

A few more hours passed by and Naruto was starting to get desperate as the sun was starting to set outside.

"What should we do if the pain doesn't give up at all?" Satsuki asked quietly.

Naruto looked around as much as he could and noticed everybody had gotten out.

"We have to go Satsuki, we can't get dropped out from the first test," Naruto said and started to push himself up. "Hnggggg!"

Naruto forced himself to stand. Satsuki started to get up too but her legs just couldn't keep her up.

"I can't, Naruto, my legs aren't obeying me," Satsuki said while struggling to get up.

In a moment on inspiration Naruto gathered all his strength and with all his strength he pulled Satsuki on his shoulders. Naruto felt like walking down the stairs was the most painful thing he had ever done. Every step stung like a thousand bees, amplified by Satsuki's weight. The only reason he could keep going was the pure adrenaline. Naruto made it down the stairs and started heading for the exit.

"_I don't think I can make it_," Naruto thought to himself as he felt the effect of the adrenaline rush fade.

Just as he was about to get to the exit, Naruto felt his legs giving up. As he was falling, he saw his life flashing through his eyes. If he failed here, if he failed such a simple test, he could never reach his dreams, he would never be the strongest in the world. If he couldn't become the strongest he wouldn't be able to protect his friends. Neko's words echoed in his head. All his friends would die, just like Souta, if he couldn't become strong enough.

Suddenly Naruto realised the weight on his back. It wasn't just Satsuki, it was all her hopes and dreams and ultimately her life, that was on his shoulders. If he failed here, Satsuki would fail too. They could never become ninjas.

With that realisation Naruto regained his balance. He let out an inhuman growl and started running with strength he shouldn't have had anymore. As he was running Naruto caught glimpse of an unexpected

person. Hinata was crawling in the mud towards the gate as the sun was showing it's last glimmers.

Naruto ran past her towards the gate where he saw the lecturer waiting.

"Naruto, we are almost there!" Satsuki said, tired but happiness still coming through.

"Ya really made it close ya weaklings! Pain that hard to handle for you kids?" The lecturer smiled smugly "Let's see, one more brat is still coming over there, then it's over."

Naruto dropped Satsuki at the gate, then started heading back.

"Naruto! Where are you going?!" Satsuki yelled.

"I'm gonna go get Hinata," Naruto said determinedly.

"Wait, she doesn't deserve getting through this test," Satsuki complained. "She's... She's a bitch."

"I know she's a bitch... but she worked hard to get this, even I could see that from your spar," Naruto stated even though he was having trouble gathering enough energy to speak. "Besides... Think what her father would do if she failed... Even she doesn't deserve that."

"Hmm?" The lecturer looked on with an amused expression and a raised eyebrow.

Naruto started slouching towards Hinata like a zombie.

Naruto could see the anger and frustration towards him on Hinata's face as she tried to keep up her dignity and pride even when crawling in the mud.

She looked like she was about to snark something to Naruto but Naruto just shook his head.

"Don't... Say... Anything... Please," Naruto managed to say from his exhaustion and extended his hand towards Hinata, who didn't take it.

"Even if... We have our differences... Even if I am poorer than you... We belong to the same team... If we fight alongside each other one day... I won't leave you then, therefore I won't leave you now," Naruto said coarsely.

Hinata raised up her hand slowly and hesitantly while closing her eyes and accepted Naruto's hand.

Naruto didn't have the strength to carry Hinata so he had to pull her all the way to the gate through the mud.

The old lecturer guy watched with a small smile as Naruto collapsed after passing the gate facing towards the sky and seeing the last rays of sun fall beneath the horizon.

Naruto let out a huge grin as he passed out from the pain in his legs, which he had been suppressing through pure mental strength.

Through his unconsciousness Naruto sometimes gained small amounts of awareness and heard snippets of conversation.

"_Yeah... Thought... Wouldn't make it for sure... Those three... Amount of Chakra... Impossible to move... Just a joke... Make them all do their best... Defeat the pain._"

All of that soon entered Naruto's subconsciousness as a measly dream not to be remembered again.


End file.
